/*
 * Copyright (c) 2005, 2006, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 * ORACLE PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms.
 *
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 */

package javax.lang.model.element;

import java.util.Map;
import javax.lang.model.type.DeclaredType;

/**
 * Represents an annotation.  An annotation associates a value with
 * each element of an annotation type.
 *
 * <p> Annotations should be compared using the {@code equals}
 * method.  There is no guarantee that any particular annotation will
 * always be represented by the same object.
 *
 * @author Joseph D. Darcy
 * @author Scott Seligman
 * @author Peter von der Ah&eacute;
 * @since 1.6
 */
public interface AnnotationMirror {

  /**
   * Returns the type of this annotation.
   *
   * @return the type of this annotation
   */
  DeclaredType getAnnotationType();

  /**
   * Returns the values of this annotation's elements.
   * This is returned in the form of a map that associates elements
   * with their corresponding values.
   * Only those elements with values explicitly present in the
   * annotation are included, not those that are implicitly assuming
   * their default values.
   * The order of the map matches the order in which the
   * values appear in the annotation's source.
   *
   * <p>Note that an annotation mirror of a marker annotation type
   * will by definition have an empty map.
   *
   * <p>To fill in default values, use {@link
   * javax.lang.model.util.Elements#getElementValuesWithDefaults
   * getElementValuesWithDefaults}.
   *
   * @return the values of this annotation's elements, or an empty map if there are none
   */
  Map<? extends ExecutableElement, ? extends AnnotationValue> getElementValues();
}
